


Weird Eyes

by americanphancakes



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: But Only a Little Bit - Freeform, Fluff, Getting Together, Growing Up Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, babysitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 09:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15240495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanphancakes/pseuds/americanphancakes
Summary: Nine-year-old Dan has a crush on his 13-year-old babysitter.(Dan’s family in this story is entirely fictional and in no way based on his real family.)





	Weird Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Just a cute fluffy idea I had in my head, figured I'd write it. Don't worry, it never gets creepy.
> 
> I CAN'T STOP WRITING SOMEONE HELP ME
> 
> [Share this story on tumblr](https://americanphancakes.tumblr.com/post/175749716463/new-one-shot-weird-eyes)

 

“Daniel, sit down and finish your dinner,” his mother said impatiently. “Your babysitter will be here soon, and I want you fed before he gets here.”

The curly-haired, round-faced 9-year-old Dan grumbled and plopped his butt back down on his usual chair in the dining room. “I’m almost ten years old! I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Correction there, kiddo… You’re not even ten yet; you need a babysitter. Besides, your brother’s only six. You can’t take care of him by yourself.”

Dan’s stupid baby brother Anson gave him a shit-eating grin. Dan glared.

Dan’s father walked in, adjusting his tie and utterly failing to get it perfectly straightened. “The babysitter here yet?”

“No, not yet,” Dan’s mother answered. “Should be here any moment though.”

There was a knock at the door just then.

“Ah, speak of the devil!” she finished.

Dan overheard as his mother opened the door. “Ah, hello! Phil, was it?” she asked. This “Phil” person answered in the affirmative. He sounded very sweet and well-behaved. Dan hated him already. Dan hated the very concept of him. In his mind’s eye, he blew a raspberry at his parents and this… this…  _ baby _ sitter. Dan wasn’t a  _ baby, _ he was a big kid. He didn’t need this.

When Dan’s mother re-entered the dining room, an older boy wasn’t far behind her. Phil.

And all the air was knocked out of Dan’s chest in milliseconds.

Phil had sort-of-long brown hair that wasn’t all that remarkable but he also had eyes so blue they didn’t even seem real. Dan thought Phil had to be some kind of fairy prince or something - normal human people didn’t have eyes like that. Plus his face was kind of pretty. Were boys supposed to be pretty? That was weird. Phil looked weird.

But he was older. Almost like a grown-up. That was kinda cool.

“So it’s…” Phil said, pointing to Dan, waiting for a name.

“Dan.”

“And…” Phil continued, pointing at the little booger-eater sitting next to Dan.

“Amfum.”

Phil laughed while Anson chewed his food. “What?”

Anson didn’t speak again until he was finished with that bite of his dinner. “Anson!” he said.

“Dan, Anson. Nice to meet you both.”

“Nice to meet you,” they said in unison, knowing their mother would let them have it if they didn’t.

“Alright, we’re off then… boys, be good. Please do not torment your new babysitter, I don’t want to have to find you  _ another _ new one.”

“Yes mum,” the boys said, again in unison.

Phil looked afraid. Dan was amused by this, but promised himself he wouldn’t torment the new babysitter.

Too much.

 

***

 

Phil was one of the most lenient babysitters the boys had ever had. He let them eat a cookie each after dinner, and he even brought two small Nerf guns with him in his backpack, letting them battle it out in the living room as long as they didn’t break anything and they cleaned up all the darts afterward.

All their past babysitters had been super-strict and didn’t let the boys do anything fun. Phil was actually  _ cool. _

“Can we watch a movie?” Anson asked Phil.

“You mum said no movies when it’s this close to bedtime, but…”

“Pleeeeaaasse?!” the boys both begged. Dan added extra theatrics by folding his hands together.

“Well…” Phil said, pretending to think but already knowing he was going to say yes. “I  _ suppose _ you guys can stay up a little bit late and watch one. But it has to be family friendly!”

The boys cheered as they climbed over the back of the sofa and then sat on it sideways (Anson) or upside-down (Dan).

“Are you guys allowed to eat popcorn?” Phil asked from the kitchen.

“...Yes?” Dan ventures.

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“No,” both boys said.

“Okay, but if we get in trouble, I’m blaming you guys.”

Anson fell asleep halfway through their viewing of Aladdin. Phil carried him to bed and tucked him in, then returned to the living room to finish the movie with Dan.

After a few moments, Phil notices that Dan is staring at him.

“Um… yes?” Phil asks.

“Your eyes are weird,” Dan says.

“Thanks!” Phil says without a hint of irony. Dan doesn’t know what to make of that so he turns back toward the movie.

At one point, Dan says, “One day that’s gonna happen to me.”

“Hm?”

“One day I’m gonna just get a really cool makeover and I’m gonna march into school and I’m gonna finally be popular. And people won’t pick on me anymore.”

Phil pauses the movie. “I think you’re missing the whole point of the story,” he says.

“No I’m not. Princes get Princesses.”

“Not always! Sometimes they get their pants bit off by tigers!” Phil laughs, and Dan lets himself smile. “The point of the story is to be yourself. Aladdin saves the day and gets Jasmine at the end as himself, not as Prince Ali. In fact, trying to stay Prince Ali just creates all this unnecessary awkwardness and conflict.”

Dan shrugs. “I guess.”

“I’m not… Just… trust me, I know it sucks right now. I got picked on when I was younger.”

“You did?” Dan says, disbelieving. “Really?”

“Yeah. And you know why I got picked on?”

“Why?”

“Because I decided cool people had blond hair, and I tried to dye my hair blond. I wanted to look like a surfer or something, I guess. But the color turned out like, bright orange. It looked awful!”

“Orange?” Dan can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah! I got called all kinds of names. Highlighter Head, that sort of thing.”

“Oh god, highlighter head?”

“Anyway, my point is, I stopped doing that. And I don’t get picked on as much. I mean I still do sometimes, I’m a bit of a nerd, but I have really good friends who are there for me. And I only could have met them by being myself.”

Dan pouts. “I just feel like myself is someone nobody would like.”

“But think about how many other people probably feel that same way, yeah?” Phil says. “If you just be yourself, maybe you’d inspire some of them to be themselves. And you can find your own little tribe of weird friends.”

“But what if we all get picked on?”

“Then you can all fight back together.”

“Maybe.”

“Always be you, Dan. Be you, unapologetically. Don’t pretend you’re someone else just so other people might like you. If you do that, your friendships will never be strong enough, you know? Because they’ll be friends with a person who isn’t real.”

“Will you be my friend, Phil?”

“Sure!”

Dan reached over and gave Phil a hug. “I’m gonna tell my mom that you’re the best babysitter ever. And then you can always babysit me and Anson. Okay?”

“I’d like that. You guys are good kids.”

“Thanks,” Dan said with a smile. He started to yawn.

“Getting sleepy?” Phil asked.

“No,” Dan lied, yawning again. He blinked slowly and sleepily and Phil laughed at him.

“Come on, Dan. Time for bed.”

“Nooooo, I wanna finish the movie.”

“We’ll finish it next time.”

Dan moaned and pouted and literally slid off the sofa onto the floor defiantly. He scooted across the floor on his back towards his room, making a stop at Phil’s feet on the way.

“Your eyes are still weird,” he says with a sneer. Phil just laughs. _Weird kid._

 

***

 

“They didn’t give you too much trouble, did they?”

“Not at all!” Phil said happily. “They’re fairly easy once you keep them distracted. I’ve definitely had to babysit for  _ far _ worse kids.”

“Good.”

“I’d be happy to babysit anytime you need. Dan and I bonded quite a bit. He’s a good kid.”

Dan’s mother raises her eyebrows. “Well that’s a new one. He wasn’t a total brat to you?”

“Not at all! He may have lied about whether or not they’re allowed to eat popcorn, but aside from that. Poor thing seems so worried about being cool.”

“I remember being that age. Same problem.”

“Yeah. I gave him some advice to be himself, but he seemed nervous still. If he ever gets upset about it, he can call me if he wants to ask for advice or vent or anything.”

“Thanks so much, Phil! That’d be lovely. I feel bad for him, his father and I are just too far removed from that age to be much help. He could use a friend like you.”

“I’m here for him whenever he needs it.”

Phil looked at his phone after it buzzed in his pocket. “My mum’s here to get me,” he said.

Dan’s mother paid him, they said their routine “goodbye” pleasantries, and he was gone for the night.

Dan was still awake, unable to sleep because his anxieties about school and friends and popularity were keeping him up. He was sad Phil had to go, but he was glad to hear him say they’d finish the movie “next time.”

 

***

 

Over the next two and a half years, Phil frequently babysat for Dan and Anson, happy to see them every time. Dan grew quite attached to Phil, but eventually Dan turned 12, and he was old enough to help take care of Anson so Phil’s services were no longer required. He still spoke to Phil occasionally for about a year afterward. Then Phil went off to university, and Dan was forced to face his last few years of school without the person he looked up to most. He did talk to his mum about it though, and she did the best she could, but mostly she kept noticing how much Dan clearly missed having Phil around.

“Dan,” his mum said to him one day. “Phil’s back in town. He finished school and he’s still looking for a job, so he’s moved back home. His parents invited us to a little get-together welcoming him back.”

“Phil’s back?” Dan had a hard time hiding the stars in his eyes.

Dan’s mum smiled knowingly. “Yeah. It’s a small garden party. Not even a party, really, just drinks on the patio with half a dozen others. I know you’re not into social things, but I also know you adored Phil when you were a kid. Do you wan--”

“Yeah, I’ll be there!”

“Alright then!” Dan’s mum said between giggles. “It’s tomorrow at 5. Did you want to go shopping to buy something nice to wear for Phil, or…”

“Mum, stop teasing.”

 

***

 

“You dyed your hair black,” Dan said at the low-key, multi-family gathering of Phil’s neighbors and friends. “What ever happened to being yourself?”

Phil looked at this person, not recognizing him at first. It had been years, after all.

Dan pointed to himself. “Dan.”

Phil’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh my god, Dan!?” He gave Dan a swift, brief, but very happy hug, glad to see Dan was alive and mostly happy and safe. “Wh-- ho-- wow, how old are you now?”

“19.”

“Jeez, has it really been that long?”

“It has. And yeah I’m horrified too.”

”Well… wow! I mean, how are you?!”

Dan laughed a little. “I’m great! Well, I dropped out of law school. Mum and Dad are not too happy about that. But--”

“Whoa, you even attempted law school? That’s amazing!”

“Leave it to you to find something amazing about my massive failure,” Dan laughed.

“Leave it to  _ me _ ?”

“Yeah, you’re always like… optimistic. It’s nice to see that you’re still the same Phil you were seven years ago.”

“I’m happy not to disappoint you,” Phil laughed, "Because that is _not_ a massive failure."

Dan smiles and they look in each other’s eyes for a second. “Well, whatever. Law school was a bad idea. You know why I left though?”

“Why?”

“Because I remembered the first bit of advice you ever gave me. To be myself. I want to act, I don’t want to be a fucking lawyer.”

Phil smirked. This was the first time he’d ever heard that little nervous kid swear. He seemed to be quite comfortable with it.

“I’m not sure how acting is going to happen exactly,” Dan continues, “but I’m looking into options.”

“Are you thinking stage or like movies and stuff?”

“Stage, probably. I loved doing theatre in school. I felt… it just felt really natural for me to be up on a stage, you know?”

Phil snickered a bit at the irony of it. Poor Dan felt most himself when he was pretending to be someone else.

“I’m thinking of going back to school, actually. I have a linguistics degree now but honestly… what kind of job would that even get me?”

“...Being a linguist?” Dan guessed honestly, having no idea what kind of job would go with linguistics expertise.

Phil laughed in response. “Exactly! I don’t want to just study linguistics forever. I do want to do something film related maybe. I liked editing my friend’s projects. Maybe I’ll do that.”

“Editing? Yeah. Would be good for you, probably. You seem like the creative type.”

Phil fidgeted, rubbing the insides of his feet together. He looked hesitant about something. “So, hey, um… I know I was your babysitter, so maybe this is weird, and if it is weird you are free to shake your head and walk away like I’m a crazy person, but… I want to get to know you as an adult, and… well, honestly… you’re…. You’re really cute now. Did you want to maybe get a coffee or something? Like this weekend?”

“Are… are you asking me out… on a date?” Dan asked, utterly stunned.

“Sorry, is that weird? It’s weird, isn’t it?”

Dan smiled. “I mean…. Yeah, kind of. But I don’t mind. We’re both grown-ups now, right? It’s just, I mean... I’d love to say yes, but…”

Phil shook his head and put a hand up. “Oh god, no, don’t worry, it’s totally okay. Forget I asked anything. You’re straight, right? I’m sorry, I misread signs from you, I always misread signs, I swear, I am the absolute worst at it, this isn’t the first time this has happened--”

“No no no no, shit, Phil, don’t worry! You didn’t misread anything, actually, which to be honest is kind of sad, ‘cause, like... I’m just… I have a girlfriend, is all.”

“Oh! Oh god. I’m sorry. This is so awkward.”

“It’s fine. But, y’know… if things don’t work out, then maybe. I dunno.”

Phil nods, still feeling horribly embarrassed for not asking if Dan was single or waiting until they knew each other better first.

“But, if you wanted to just hang out as friends, honestly, I’d really like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I missed you. I had a rough go of it in school after you left. I wanted to talk to you, but I was just… I dunno, I guess it was just too hard for me to ask your parents how to get a hold of you at uni. So I tried to handle it myself. I was in over my bloody head though.”

“I’m sorry. I would have been there for you if I could have been.”

Dan nods. “I know. You always took good care of me.”

Phil forces a smile. “Well, just in case you ever need me, hand me your phone. I’ll give you my number.”

 

***

 

“How could she do this??” Dan cried into the phone. “I’m just so fucking mad I can’t see straight!”

“I know it hurts, but cheating on you was  _ her _ mistake,” Phil explained. “Just remember that this is something _ she _ did. It’s not a reflection on you. She was a coward. She was too scared to tell you she was unhappy about anything.”

“Why? I’m not anything to be afraid of. I don’t understand her at all.”

“That’s why I’m saying she was cowardly. She wasn’t scared of you, she was scared of not having you anymore. She would rather cheat and do something cruel to you than talk through your issues and risk being single for awhile. You probably dodged a bullet here.”

Dan sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Yeah I guess. Doesn’t make it feel any better though.”

“I know.” Phil’s tone dropped to something resigned, and Dan couldn’t tell if he was sad or just annoyed with him.

“I’m sorry I’m such a whiny little… ugh. I’m sorry. That’s all, I’m just sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I told you I’d be here for you and I meant that.”

Dan sighed. “I wish I’d stayed in touch with you while you were at uni.”

“Me too! I missed you a lot. I’d think of you from time to time and wonder how you were doing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. Watching you grow up was so cool. It made me sad that I had to leave that behind.”

Dan chuckled, not sure why he was about to confess what he was about to confess but fuck it, he was gonna. “You know what, I had such a crush on you when I was little.”

“What!?” Phil said, laughing. “You said my eyes were weird!”

“Mate, I was nine. Of course I said your eyes were weird. Nine-year-old boys don’t know how else to deal with thinking another boy’s eyes are pretty.”

“Fair point.”

“I’m sorry if I like, ruined your self-esteem or something.”

“You were nine, I wasn’t bothered at all.”

“You’re lying, I can hear it.”

“Words hurt, you know!” Phil said, sharing a bright laugh with Dan.

“It’s nice to laugh,” Dan said.

“It’s nice to hear you laugh.”

“I’m not, like… gross or anything, am I?”

“Why would you think that?”

“It’s just… why would she cheat, you know? Why was she unhappy with me? What’s wrong with me?”

“You can be a less than ideal match for someone without there being anything  _ wrong _ with you. Just because you’re not the right person for her doesn’t mean you’re not the right person for anybody.”

“Who am I right for then?”

Phil had a hard time stopping himself from saying “You could be right for me.” Given the years spent away from Dan, it was almost as though this grown-up Dan was an entirely different person from the nine-year-old he’d given advice to all those years ago. He thought of Dan as a university-age young man now, not a child. But right at this moment, Dan was asking him for advice again. He was vulnerable. And Phil was able to act on the knowledge that connecting with Dan romantically might possibly be an abuse of power if Dan still saw him as an authority he could turn to. So instead of saying what he really wanted to say, he said the right thing.

“You’re right for somebody. There’s nothing wrong with you at all, Dan. You’re.. You’re perfect.”

“...Do you really think so?”

“I do.”

Meanwhile, Dan sat on his bed, his face in a slight pout, his eyes cast down. “Thanks, Phil,” he said. “I have to go.”

He hung up without saying anything else.

 

***

 

Another two years went by. Dan and Phil decided to move to London together. They both had their families’ respective blessings to do so, since It made perfect sense - Dan was pursuing an acting career and Phil (with his fancy new Master’s degree in video post-production) was looking for jobs editing videos for big companies. London was really the best place for both of them under the circumstances. So their families helped them pack and move, but natrally talked behind their backs about how “the boys will be home within a year when they realize it’s hard to make it in the big city.”

As Dan and Phil sat on the floor of their new lounge, surrounded by the brown of cardboard boxes and the stark white of undecorated walls, they shoved noodles into their mouths and looked around, imagining where things would go. Both in the sense of furniture and their lives.

“The telly should probably go over there,” Phil said, pointing to a bit of wall next to the window. “That way there’s not glare on it.”

“Ooh. Good point. I was thinking of putting it diagonally in the corner, that way we can see it from everywhere.”

“You know what, that’s better. As long as it’s on that corner and not that one.”

“Mm.” Dan nodded. In his mind’s eye the flat was full of his own band posters and Phil’s colorful figures. The furniture would be mismatched, the collection of movies would be unalphabetized, and it would be amazing. He’d feel at home here. He was excited about the future for the first time since he was eleven years old. And it was all because of Phil. It was always because of Phil.

And now, both being in pursuit of adulthood, both on the path towards their careers, they were on fairly equal ground. Neither of them was an authority over the other, they were both just kids trying to find their way in life. 

Dan paused and put his food down.  “Phil?” 

“Hm?”

“Could you put your food down a second?”

“Sure.” He did.

Dan breathed in, psyched himself up, and leaned over to plant a kiss on Phil’s lips, his eyes scrunched shut.

Phil, stunned, sat there blinking for a second, not hating this at all but not sure how to react either.

Dan pulled away from the kiss, opened his eyes, and stared at Phil, waiting for a reaction.

“Uh… wow,” Phil said.

“Good wow or bad wow?” Dan asked tentatively. He was pretty sure it was a bad wow based on the fact that Phil didn’t return the kiss or close his eyes or anything.

“W--, I mean, I… uh….”

Dan looked as nervous as Phil was.

Phil suddenly shook his head and laughed.

“Good wow,” he said. “Of course it’s a good wow.”

Dan excitedly pounced on Phil and kissed him again. They both fell over in a fit of giggles.

“So um,” Dan asked after calming down, “are you my boyfriend now then?”

“I think so?”

“That’s so weird!”

“Weird like how slime and bugs are weird or weird like my eyes were weird?”

Dan laughed. “God, you have really got hung up on that!”

“Are you kidding? I’ve always considered ‘weird’ a compliment, of course I’m hung up on that. It was the nicest thing you could have said to me.”

“Well… you’re weird. And I like you.”

“You’re weird and I like you too.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: @americanphancakes 
> 
> Come say hi! :)
> 
> [Share this story on tumblr](https://americanphancakes.tumblr.com/post/175749716463/new-one-shot-weird-eyes)


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